Pink Floyd: The Wall
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British live-action/animated musical film directed by Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall about a confined rocker who's driven into insanity and constructs a wall to be protected from the world around him. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The film is highly metaphorical and is rich in symbolic imagery and sound. It features very little dialogue and is mainly driven by the music of Pink Floyd. The film contains fifteen minutes of elaborate animation sequences by the political cartoonist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe. It was the seventh animated feature to be presented in Dolby Stereo. Contents * 1 Plot * 2 Cast * 3 Production ** 3.1 Concept ** 3.2 Development ** 3.3 Filming * 4 Release ** 4.1 Critical reception * 5 Documentary * 6 Soundtrack * 7 Chart positions * 8 References * 9 External links Plotedit Pink, the protagonist, is a rock star, one of several reasons behind his apparent depressive and detached emotional state. He is first seen in an unkempt hotel room, motionless and expressionless, watching television. The opening music is the Vera Lynn recording of "The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot". It is revealed that Pink's father, a British soldier, was killed in action while defending the Anzio bridgehead during World War II, in Pink's infancy. In a flashback, Pink is a young English boy growing up in the early 1950s. Throughout his childhood, Pink longs for a father figure. He discovers a scroll from "kind old King George" and other relics from his father's military service and death. At school, he is humiliated for writing poems in class (the poem being Pink Floyd's "Money"). After the teacher reads the poem out loud, "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" is played, and children are shown in a surrealistically oppressive school system, falling into a meat grinder. The children then rise in rebellion and destroy the school, carrying the Teacher away to an unknown fate. Pink is also negatively affected by hisoverprotective mother. As an adult, Pink eventually marries, but he and his wife soon grow apart. While he is in the United States on tour, Pink learns that his wife is having an affair. He turns to a willing groupie, whom he brings back to his hotel room only to trash it in a fit of violence, terrifying the groupie out of the apartment. Pink slowly begins to lose his mind to metaphorical "worms". He shaves off all of his body hair and his eyebrows and, while watching The Dam Busters on television, morphs into his neo-fascist alter-ego. Pink's manager, along with the hotel manager and some paramedics, discover Pink and inject him with drugs to enable him to perform. Pink fantasises that he is a dictator and his concert is a Neo-Nazi rally. His followers proceed to attack ethnic minorities, and Pink holds a rally in suburban London, singing "Waiting for the Worms". The scene is intercut with images of animated marching hammers that goose-step across ruins. Pink screams "Stop!" and takes refuge in the toilets at the concert venue, reciting poems. In a climactic animated sequence, Pink, depicted as a small, almost inanimate rag doll, is on trial, and his sentence is "to be exposed before his peers." The judge gives the order to "tear down the wall". Following a prolonged silence, the wall is smashed. Several children are seen cleaning up a pile of debris after an earlier riot, with a freeze-frame on one of the children emptying a Molotov cocktail. Castedit * Bob Geldof as Floyd Pinkerton (Pink) ** Kevin McKeon as Young Pink ** David Bingham as Little Pink * Christine Hargreaves as Pink's mother * Eleanor David as Pink's wife * Alex McAvoy as Teacher * Bob Hoskins as Rock-and-roll manager * Michael Ensign as Hotel manager * James Laurenson as J.A. Pinkerton * Jenny Wright as American groupie * Margery Mason as Teacher's wife * Ellis Dale as English doctor * James Hazeldine as Lover * Ray Mort as Playground father * Robert Bridges as American doctor * Joanne Whalley, Nell Campbell, Emma Longfellow, and Lorna Barton as Groupies * Philip Davis and Gary Olsen as Roadies Productionedit Conceptedit In mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences: Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was comprised (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans.4 This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd "explored (... ) the hard realities of 'being where we are'", drawing upon existentialists, namely Jean-Paul Sartre.5 Developmentedit Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, a film was intended to be made from it.6 However, the concept of the film was intended to be live footage from the album's tour, with Scarfe's animation and extra scenes.7 The film was going to star Waters himself.7 EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept.8 Director Alan Parker, a Pink Floyd fan, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who had asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Gerald Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer.9 Waters began work on the film's screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Waters in the role of Pink, after screen tests, he was removed from the starring role10 and replaced with punkmusician and frontman of the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof.7 In Behind the Wall, both Waters and Geldof later admitted to a story during casting where Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof's manager pitched the role to the singer, who continued to reject the offer and express his contempt for the project throughout the fare, unaware that the taxi driver was Waters' brother, who promptly proceeded to tell Waters about Geldof's opinion. The iconic "marching hammers" Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped.11 The footage culled from the five Wall concerts at Earl's Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable also for technical reasons as the fastPanavision lenses needed for the low light levels turned out to have insufficient resolution for the movie screen. Complex parts such as "Hey You" still had not been properly shot by the end of the live shows.12 Parker also managed to convince Waters and Scarfe that the concert footage was too theatrical and that it would jar with the animation and stage live action. After the concert footage was dropped, Seresin left the project and Parker became the only director connected to The Wall.13 Filmingedit During production, while filming the destruction of a hotel room, Geldof suffered a cut to his hand as he pulled away the venetian blinds. The footage remains in the film. Also, it was discovered while filming the pool scenes that Geldof did not know how to swim. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, and it was suggested that they suspend Geldof in Christopher Reeve's clear cast used for the Superman flying sequences, but his frame was too small by comparison; it was then decided to make a smaller rig that was a more acceptable fit, and he simply lay on his back.14 The war scenes were shot on Saunton Sands in North Devon, which was also featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason six years later.15 Releaseedit The film was shown "out of competition" during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.16 The premiere at Cannes was amazing – the midnight screening. They took down two truckloads of audio equipment from the recording studios so it would sound better than normal. It was one of the last films to be shown in the old Palais which was pretty run down and the sound was so loud it peeled the paint off the walls. It was like snow – it all started to shower down and everyone had dandruff at the end. I remember seeing Terry Semel there, who at the time was head of Warner Brothers, sitting next to Steven Spielberg. They were only five rows ahead of me and I'm sure I saw Steven Spielberg mouthing to him at the end when the lights came up, 'what the fuck was that?' And Semel turned to me and then bowed respectfully. 'What the fuck was that?,' indeed. It was like nothing anyone had ever seen before – a weird fusion of live-action, story-telling and of the surreal. Alan Parker17 The film's official premiere was at the Empire, Leicester Square18 in London, on 14 July 1982. It was attended by Waters and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmourand Nick Mason, but not Richard Wright,18 who was no longer a member of the band. It was also attended by various celebrities including Geldof, Scarfe, Paula Yates,Pete Townshend, Sting, Roger Taylor, James Hunt, Lulu and Andy Summers.19 Critical receptionedit So it's difficult, painful and despairing, and its three most important artists came away from it with bad feelings. Why would anybody want to see it? Perhaps because filming this material could not possibly have been a happy experience for anyone—not if it's taken seriously. Roger Ebert20 The film opened with a limited release on 6 August 1982 and entered at No. 28 of the US box office charts despite only playing in one theatre on its first weekend, grossing over $68,000, a rare feat even by today's standards. The film then spent just over a month below the top 20 while still in the top 30. The film later expanded to over 600 theatres on 10 September, achieving No. 3 at the box office charts, below E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. The film eventually earned $22 million before closing in early 1983.2 It earned its creators two British Academy Awards; 'Best Sound' for James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham Hartstone & Nicholas Le Messurier;21 and 'Best Original Song' for Waters.21 The film received generally positive reviews. Reviewing The Wall on their television programme At the Movies in 1982, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert described The Wall as "a stunning vision of self-destruction" and "one of the most horrifying musicals of all time ... but the movie is effective. The music is strong and true, the images are like sledge hammers, and for once, the rock and roll hero isn't just a spoiled narcissist, but a real, suffering image of all the despair of this nuclear age. This is a real good movie." Siskel was more reserved in his judgement, stating that he felt that the film's imagery was too repetitive. However, he admitted that the "central image" of the fascist rally sequence "will stay with me for an awful long time." In February 2010, Roger Ebert added The Wall to his list of "great movies," describing the film as "without question the best of all serious fiction films devoted to rock. Seeing it now in more timid times, it looks more daring than it did in 1982, when I saw it at Cannes ... It's disquieting and depressing and very good."20 It was chosen for opening night of Ebertfest 2010. While Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film with a critics review of 72% rating (of 17 reviews), the community of the website ranked the film with an 88% (out of 375 reviews).Danny Peary wrote that the "picture is unrelentingly downbeat and at times repulsive ... but I don't find it unwatchable – which is more than I could say if Ken Russell had directed this. The cinematography by Peter Bizou is extremely impressive and a few of the individual scenes have undeniable power."22 Waters has expressed deep reservations about the film, saying that the filming had been "a very unnerving and unpleasant experience ... we all fell out in a big way." As for the film itself, he said: "I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught upon the senses, that it didn't give me, anyway, as an audience, a chance to get involved with it," although he had nothing but praise for Geldof's performance.23 Parker, who frequently clashed with Waters and Gerald Scarfe, described the filming as "one of the most miserable experiences of my creative life."24 David Gilmour stated (on the "In the Studio with Redbeard" episodes of The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and On an Island) that the conflict between him and Waters started with the making of the film. Gilmour also stated on the documentary Behind The Wall (which was aired on theBBC in the UK and VH1 in the US) that "the movie was the less successful telling of The Wall story as opposed to the album and concert versions." Although the symbol of the crossed hammers was a creation of the film and not related to any real racist group, it was adopted by white supremacist group theHammerskins in the late 1980s.25 Documentaryedit A documentary was produced about the making of Pink Floyd – The Wall entitled The Other Side of the Wall that includes interviews with Parker, Scarfe, and clips of Waters, originally aired on MTV in 1982. A second documentary about the film was produced in 1999 entitled Retrospective that includes interviews with Waters, Parker, Scarfe, and other members of the film's production team. Both are featured on The Wall''DVD as extras. Soundtrackedit Song changes from album: The only songs from the album not used in the film are "Hey You" and "The Show Must Go On". "Hey You" was deleted as Waters and Parker felt the footage was too repetitive (eighty percent of the footage appears in montage sequences elsewhere)24 but available to view as in worn black and white work print form as a bonus feature on the DVD release under the name "Reel 13".29 A soundtrack album from Columbia Records was listed in the film's end credits, but only a single containing "When the Tigers Broke Free" and the rerecorded "Bring the Boys Back Home" was released. "When the Tigers Broke Free" later became a bonus track on the band's 1983 album ''The Final Cut, an album Waters intended as an extension to The Wall. Guitarist David Gilmour, however, dismissed the album as a collection of songs that had been rejected for The Wall project, but were being recycled. The song, in the edit used for the single, also appears on the 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. Chart positionsedit Category:1982 films